Two Years Since the Arrest of Hunan Human Rights Defender Li Yuanfeng

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On October 10, 2026，this website learned that Li Yuanfeng（originally named Li Weizhong）is an independent journalist from Hunan，who has long focused on promoting labor rights。On October 10, 2024，he was taken away by police，and exactly 2 years have now passed。Li Yuanfeng was charged with “inciting subversion”and has stood trial，and in his statement to the court he said：“As for the articles I have published over the years and the things I have said online，those are entirely an exercise of my freedom of speech，there is nothing to defend.”

Li Yuanfeng’s biography：Originally named Li Weizhong，he uses the online names Yuan Ye Zhi Feng and Yuan Feng，was born on April 12，1970，and is from Yuanjiang City，Yiyang，Hunan Province，an independent journalist，a human rights defender，and a Chinese prisoner of conscience。

For a long time，he has made good use of writing，often focusing on on-the-ground investigations of rights-defense cases，independently writing current-affairs commentary and interviews with ordinary people，and using sharp language，which has made him popular with people who follow social hot-button issues；however，because he exposed rights-defense cases and social injustice，the CCP authorities regarded him as a target for close monitoring and suppression in the name of maintaining stability；

On October 10，2024，Hunan police suddenly took him away on an unspecified charge，and his Twitter and Facebook accounts also stopped updating that same day，after which he could no longer be reached，and it was later learned that he had been placed in administrative detention for 15 days；On October 26，2024，the day his period of administrative detention ended，Hunan police instead changed his status to criminal detention on suspicion of 「picking quarrels and provoking trouble」；On November 13，2024，police changed the charge again and placed him under residential surveillance at a designated location on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power。The case against Li Yuanfeng clearly highlights the CCP’s continued suppression of independent media and dissenting voices，and the public’s right to know has been further violated。

This website will continue to follow Li Yuanfeng’s situation in prison。